Boy, three, scarred for life after being savaged by grandfather's French Mastiff guard dog

Alfie Traynor was treated for facial and leg injuries and had to spend six weeks in hospital after being attacked by the French Mastiff, Stafford Crown Court heard.

The animal's owner, James Leake, aged 63, of Yarnfield Lane, Yarnfield, near Stone, admitting being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control.

At the crown court he was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for a year. He was also ordered to do 125 hours unpaid community work and pay £550 costs.

Judge Michael Chambers QC told him: "This must have been an horrific and traumatic experience for this young child.

"It is only due to the intervention of your wife, Carol, putting herself at considerable risk, that almost certainly more serious if not fatal injuries were prevented.

"She is to be commended for her actions, as a result she suffered significant injuries."

Mr Tim Pole, prosecuting, said the dog attack happened on 1 April when Mrs Leake returned to their smallholding with two grandchildren, including Alfie.

The French Mastiff, called 'Munch', had got loose from its pen and launched an assault on the little boy.

The dog had Alfie's head inside its mouth and bit right through his cheeks.

There were puncture wounds to the back of his head, but the most serious injuries were to his leg. The dog had bitten clean through Alfie's left left, fracturing both tibia and fibula.

The court heard that Alfie's father and his uncle had both warned Leake about the dog's aggressive temperament and had asked him to get rid of it.

Judge Chambers told the defendant: "I would urge you to think long and hard before having or using again a dog as a guard dog."

"Alfie was in hospital for a number of weeks and left with some degree of scarring to his face but otherwise I am told, and accept, has survived the experience."

The judge added that he was able to suspend the prison sentence because Leake had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, had never been in trouble before and had 'readily agreed to have the dog put down immediately'.

Mr Andrew Bennett, defending, said: "This is a close, supportive family. It is a tragic case, they might have reacted in a way you may disapprove of. There is no-one more concerned, more upset or distressed and devastated about what has happened to Alfie than this defendant.

"He is genuinely remorseful. The dog was in a pen, he wasn't there. When he came home it was he who intervened and regained control of the dog."

Mr Bennett said Mrs Leake was in hospital for three days.